It is common in the field of orthodontics to secure orthodontic brackets in place on a patient's tooth using light-cured adhesive or cement. The light-cured adhesive or cement used often cures when exposed to ultra-violet light. Some states may require an orthodontist to place a bracket before the cement is cured, but even in states with no such requirement orthodontists may still wish to place the brackets themselves. At the same time, the trend in modern orthodontics has been for orthodontists to become more efficient, that is, to see more patients in less time. However, the common practice of an orthodontist placing brackets often leads to a situation where an orthodontist becomes a bottleneck in the treatment of patients and thus this common practice may decrease the efficiency of an orthodontic practice. To help increase efficiency, it may often be desirable for an orthodontic assistant to place orthodontic brackets on patients' teeth using light-cured adhesives or cement but to also delay the light-curing of the adhesive or cement. This delay of curing may allow an orthodontist to inspect the brackets and the placement of the brackets without significantly slowing the treatment of patients.
It would also be desirable to delay curing of fixatives used with application of dental implants in order to allow a dentist to properly adjust the implant prior to curing of the fixative.
It would be desirable to overcome these and other deficiencies in the application of orthodontic braces, implants or other applications utilizing light curable fixatives.